Press release —
Kunsthal Charlottenborg rethinks its foyer with atelier axo
Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s new foyer, developed in collaboration with atelier axo, draws on the building’s architectural and design history to create a contemporary space for arriving, meeting and spending time. Historical references have been reinterpreted as new furniture, materials and functions, offering new ways to enter, experience and inhabit the building.
As part of Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s seasonal opening on 25 September, the new foyer opened to the public. The project is part of Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s ongoing work to develop its spaces and create more opportunities for visitors to meet, take part and spend time before and beyond the exhibitions.
“We wanted to rethink the foyer as more than a space people simply pass through on their way to the exhibitions. Kunsthal Charlottenborg should be a place you can drop by, meet others, read, take part and spend time. It was therefore important to create a space that supports different ways of using the building. At the same time, we wanted to make Charlottenborg’s history more visible and allow it to become an active starting point for something new,” says Helene Nyborg Bay, Director of Kunsthal Charlottenborg.
History as a starting point
The foyer has been developed in collaboration with atelier axo. The starting point has been to work with the existing space rather than introducing a new architecture within the historic building. Charlottenborg’s forms, objects and design history have therefore been used as material for a new, contemporary interior.
A recurring motif is the arch found in Charlottenborg’s architecture, which has been reinterpreted in several of the foyer’s new pieces of furniture. The two amorphous book podiums draw inspiration from the round plinths used at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts’ School of Sculpture in the early 20th century, while the large library shelving takes its cue from Charlottenborg’s art library as it looked in the 1960s. An old painter’s chest from the Academy has inspired the new tables along the long bench, while the painter’s palette knife has been translated into a design element in the foyer’s poster display.
“Our ambition was to make the foyer more inviting and welcoming through a simple refurbishment and a series of specific interventions that take their starting point in the building itself. We approached Charlottenborg’s history as the fundamental material for the project, beginning by investigating the building and its architecture, historic objects, furniture and stories. Here, we found a number of traces that could serve as starting points for new interventions. It was important that the new elements could stand on their own as a new layer in the history while remaining rooted in Charlottenborg. In this way, the foyer becomes a threshold between Charlottenborg’s historic setting and the contemporary art that unfolds within it,” says architect Caroline Vogel, atelier axo.
The references do not function as historical reconstructions, but as starting points for new functions and elements. In developing the foyer, atelier axo has also worked with materials that were already available. Discontinued textiles from Kvadrat have been used for screens and upholstery, while recovered wood from Dinesen’s production has been incorporated into the new furniture. Here, the dimensions of the material have helped shape the design of the furniture.
The new foyer is designed to accommodate different ways of using the art centre. The bookshop opens up more towards the space, while a long bench with small tables and Arne Jacobsen’s Charlottenborg Chairs creates room to meet, read, work or simply spend time. The freestanding furniture is modular and movable, allowing the foyer to be transformed for talks, performances and other events. In this way, the space functions as an entrance, bookshop, social space and event venue.
Charlottenborg’s design heritage
The new foyer also becomes part of an existing design history. Arne Jacobsen’s Charlottenborg Chair takes its name from the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition of 1937, where the chair was exhibited. In the new foyer, the chair forms part of the seating area along the wall.
The lighting establishes a similar connection to Charlottenborg. The Charlottenborg Pendant by Louis Poulsen is a further development of Poul Henningsen’s four-shade system, which Sophus Frandsen and Ebbe Christensen adapted for the exhibition building at Charlottenborg in 1979. The lamp was developed with exhibition and museum spaces in mind and designed to provide even and comfortable light in rooms with high ceilings.
Together with atelier axo’s new elements, these design classics form part of an interior where the history of the site meets new functions and contemporary ways of using the space.
The materials have been chosen with attention to the relationship between the existing and the new. Dinesen wood brings warmth and tactility to the space and works in dialogue with the organic forms of the new furniture and Charlottenborg’s more monumental architecture.
With the new foyer, the ambition is to create a space that both takes its starting point in Charlottenborg’s history and looks ahead. A space where architecture, design, art and everyday life meet, and where arriving at the art centre can also be the beginning of a stay.
The new foyer opened on 25 September 2026 as part of Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s seasonal opening.
Facts
Project: New foyer, Kunsthal Charlottenborg
Design: atelier axo
Materials: Dinesen, Kvadrat
Furniture: atelier axo, Arne Jacobsen
Lighting: Louis Poulsen
Opened: 25 September 2026
Address: Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Kongens Nytorv 1, 1050 Copenhagen K, Denmark
Press contact
Jeannie Møller Haltrup
Head of Communications, Kunsthal Charlottenborg
jmh@kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk / +45 33 74 46 29
www.kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk
www.facebook.com/charlottenborg.kunsthal
www.instagram.com/kunsthalcharlottenborg
www.youtube.com/c/KunsthalCharlottenborg
Categories
Kunsthal Charlottenborg is one of the oldest and most beautiful exhibition spaces for contemporary art in Northern Europe. The exhibition space presents an ambitious program with international outlook featuring talents as well as established stars from both Denmark and abroad. The exhibition program is supplemented with a large number of activities like artist talks, performances, concerts and film screenings.
